A Philadelphia jeweler’s heirs are fighting the U.S. government over the ownership of gem mint “Double Eagle” gold coins, worth a total of, perhaps, $80 million or more. Treasury officials say the coins were stolen from …

I realized that I didn’t have the whole gold thing worked out when I found myself riding the New York City subway system with $12,000 worth of gold coins in my shoulder bag. The load was not only heavy; it was making me …

The brilliant thing about money is that it’s entirely interchangeable. A hundred pennies equals a dollar, and 40 quarters has the same value as a $10 bill. So why would people be willing to give away nearly 10% of the value of one kind of money just to have it swapped into another form of cash?

Apparently, plenty of Americans have been doing just that. And because of the big influx of old nickels, dimes, and quarters into the system, there’s very little demand for new coins—specifically, the new collectible quarters featuring national parks.